Unfair attack on Marc Garlasco

Your story with the sensational headline "Human Rights Watch investigator accused of collecting Nazi memorabilia" (10 September) repeats defamatory nonsense unworthy of this newspaper. Our military expert, Marc Garlasco, collects German and American military memorabilia from the second world war, but that does not make him a Nazi sympathiser, as your headline implied. He has never expressed any pro-Nazi or antisemitic sentiments. The fact that the Israeli foreign ministry is spreading such ad hominem attacks against him should have been a warning sign, not a green light to publish.

The allegations of pro-Nazi sympathies are part of a larger campaign to smear non-governmental organisations which criticise the Israel Defence Forces' conduct of the Gaza offensive. Anyone who knows anything about Human Rights Watch – including the foreign news staff of the Guardian, who quote us on a regular basis – should find the insinuation that we harbour neo-Nazis simply ludicrous. The fact that Marc Garlasco has been cited by your newspaper 19 times since he joined Human Rights Watch six years ago (15 as Marc; four as "Mark") testifies to his authority as a military expert. It's a pity the Guardian has given space to a malicious campaign to undermine his reputation.